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CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: A Day at the Races – High Octane Action at the Rolex 24 At Daytona

The Rolex 24 At Daytona (previously the 24 Hours of Daytona) is the ultimate endurance race held at the Daytona International Speedway at Daytona Beach, Florida and has been taking place since 1962. It’s fast, furious and often fraught with (controlled) chaos!

Adam Prescott is a long-standing customer of ours and the director of Prescott Motorsport. He recently tagged us on Instagram in some sensational images he was able to capture at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with the Fujifilm XF200mm f/2 and was kind enough to share a collection of them with us. Smell the burning rubber, hear the roaring engines and of course, see the pin-sharp action up close!

Over to Adam…

"I have been a Hireacamera customer for a number of years – probably four I think! Ever since my first experience I have always been impressed with the level of service provided and it’s safe to say that I would not go anywhere else! But more specifically about the recent hire of the awesome Fuji XF200mm F2 and 1.4x converter, as normal I received a call and follow-up email about the hire in good time to be offered delivery a day earlier – just in case there was an issue with the lens before I travelled to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The lens arrived safely, neatly packed in its own flight case and with returns labels etc, and was in great condition (as always).

"The Rolex 24 at Daytona is considered in endurance motor racing circles as part of the “Triple Crown” which includes the Sebring 12 Hour Race and of course the Le Mans 24 – all of which I have had the privilege to attend and capture! Unlike the Le Mans race, the Rolex 24 is run on a road course and covers a much shorter lap (3.56 miles) as opposed to the nearly 8.5 miles of public roads at Le Mans.

"As with most endurance events, the Rolex 24 has multiple classes of car racing together at the same time, so there is no shortage of overtaking and track action to be captured! Teams are usually made up of 3 or 4 drivers driving ’stints’ behind the wheel of around 50 mins each, drivers can do multiple stints – stopping only for new tyres and fuel. There is always an exception to this… Ben Keating drove 2 cars in 2 different classes, completing eight stints in the LMP2 class number 52 and six in the GTD class number 74 – making a little over 11.5 hours of racing!

"To complement the 200mm I took my two Fuji XH1 bodies, the XF 16mm F1.4 and XF 35mm F1.4 – this might surprise readers to see that I used only prime lenses for motorsport but after many years I made the switch from zooms to primes, I find this makes me work harder for the shot and by doing this I put more thought into my photography.

"And finally… Haribo #nuffsaid.'

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t somewhat jealous, what a brilliant day at the office! Our thanks go to Adam for taking part in this customer case study, sharing his fantastic images and of course, for his lovely comments about us. It’s always nice to know the Haribo are appreciated too!

You can find more of Adam's inspirational imagery via the links below: